We were lucky to catch up with Casey Richardson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Casey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I came up with the idea to start BLAZE GROUP LLC while I was in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic and a simultaneous crisis where images of Black bodies being slain were perpetuated in many news cycles in 2020. While I enjoyed a pretty plush job as a Vice President in Corporate & Investment Banking in 2020, the pandemic granted me the access and flexibility to join protests for equality and justice in the evenings. I had never felt so emboldened and connected to immediate action. Those who walked with me shoulder to shoulder in the evenings were the same people who continued to be excluded and overlooked in the board rooms that I worked in.

BLAZE GROUP was created to provide Black women around the world with world class mentorship, knowledge, and capital access. Traditionally gatekeepers have been unwilling to provide culturally relevant support and accessible tools – so we are doing so without permission. We are ensuring the 17% of all Black women in the United States – and beyond – who are starting or running new businesses in 2022 have powerful access at their fingertips. No exceptions.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I started BLAZE GROUP at the same time that I left the United States to become a digital nomad. I believed that my demographic – which is the most educated, but most oppressed – already possessed the ability to be top business leaders. They only needed to be spoken to in terms they understood. I put skin in the game for myself first, walking away from everything that I knew to build a life with uncapped potential. I made a radical bet on myself first – because I believed that deeply in the new frameworks I was to offer to the world.

At the start of my firm, I held Paycheck Protection Program Forgiveness calls to answer questions and assist entrepreneurs who were in dire need of assistance during the pandemic. This was easy for me, as I was a Global Banking & Markets Team Lead for PPP Forgiveness at the 2nd largest bank in the United States before I left for full-time entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs were so relieved to receive patient, competent answers to their questions and quick access to the relief they deserved.

From there, I launched my signature business management course – called the Blaze Business Intensive. This course teaches Black women how to run their businesses with the precision of a ninja – using terms they understand, examples that are relevant to them, and grounded on principles that teach them to put themselves first. That course has aided several dozen entrepreneurs to date and was only the beginning.

I went on to establish virtual events, an iOS and Android app called TablexTribe, and other resources that serve our community of more than 5,500 entrepreneurs today! We even won the distinguished title of Webby Awards Honoree for Best in Business & Finance (Virtual & Remote) in 2022 for our semi-annual Blaze Virtual Summit!

Black women deserve to live in the land of plenty. My vision of putting plentiful resources in their hands is working and growing larger every day.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I had to unlearn was that productivity was a measure of my worth. For much of the time that I worked a 9-5, I really believed that I was to “earn” time off. I was to “earn” an extended vacation. I needed to push my body past its natural limits to go the distance that others couldn’t – as if that made me more worthy of promotions or praise.

That mindset, though carefully instilled in me, was toxic. It was detrimental to my self worth, my ability to understand the warning signals that my body would give, important relationships in my life that had to take a backseat, and more.

Leaving the states to become a digital nomad and building a social enterprise that disrupted the notion that rest was for the weak – I was able to tap into birthright pleasures. Rest is my birthright. Each day that I choose to take a midday nap – because my body needs it – is an act of tactical warfare. It debunks the myths that we must work around the clock, and it shows other people that success is acquired by working smarter.

I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been in my entire life. I’m still very respected, I’m very accomplished, and I am deeply connected to the things that matter most to me. That is what reclaiming my time and my self worth has done for me.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I was extremely bold in building my audience on social media.

I showed up calling myself the expert – not waiting for someone to deem me as such. At the same time, I made it very clear to my audience that I needed their help. They were happy to oblige!

I told my audience that I was developing solutions for their particular needs and asked for 15-minute conversations with them to pick their brains. During those conversations – I asked them the important questions:

– What their greatest challenges were in managing their business

– What was the one thing that kept them up at night and why

– What solutions they’d tried before and why they didn’t work

– How finally solving their business management problems would change their lives

– Where they wanted to be in a year

After listening to the needs and desires of my audience, I posted about it! I used their exact words to speak to them – in their language! They loved it. They felt as if I was reading their minds. They trusted me. They were happy to feel “seen.”

Those conversations continue to yield positive benefits in my business – as I continue to speak to the real pain points of those that I serve. I continue to gather feedback from them in these ways – I look at insights to see what information gets the most shares, saves, and likes. I double down on those things. As a result – we’ve organically grown our Instagram page by more than 35,000 followers in the last 90 days!

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